One of the central characters in the play "The Cherry Orchard" is the merchant Lopakhin. Despite the fact that the action unfolds around the estate of Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya and her cherry orchard, Lopakhin can be confidently called a character equivalent to the landowner. His fate is closely connected with the Ranevskaya family, because his father served with Lyubov Andreevna, while still a serf. Yermolai himself managed to get out of the "muzhiks", becoming a merchant and independently, without the help of his parents, making a fortune. Lopakhin's energy, diligence and hard work deserve undoubted respect.

However, Yermolai himself in his soul cannot tear himself away from his origin, sincerely considering himself a fool and an ordinary peasant, illiterate and stupid. He says he knows nothing about books and has bad handwriting. But the reader perceives Lopakhin as a hard worker, because the hero cannot imagine his life without work. A merchant knows how to make money, knows the value of time, but at the same time he is not a tight-fisted grabber - he is just as easily ready to part with his money if it can help someone. Lopakhin sincerely worries about Ranevskaya and her garden, helping to find a way out of the situation.

Among the numerous characters in the work, it is Yermolai Lopakhin who is the only one who not only speaks and worries about the garden, but also tries to do something. He has several real ideas for saving the site, but because of the inaction of the owners themselves, they all fail. Thus, in the image of Lopakhin, positive, seemingly mutually exclusive, but harmoniously existing traits in him are closely intertwined: business acumen and sincere humanity, a desire to help a loved one.

Other characters speak of Ermolaus in completely different ways. Ranevskaya warmly refers to an old acquaintance, who almost grew up in front of her eyes, but perceives him as a person of a different circle, although she is interested in the merchant. A diametrically opposite attitude is observed on the part of her brother, Gaev: he calls Lopakhin a boor and a fist. The merchant himself is absolutely not worried about such a characteristic - for him, the attitude of Lyubov Andreevna is much more important.

The story of Lopakhin and Vary is of considerable importance in the work. Their relationship leads to a wedding, but Yermolai never marries the girl. This happens because of the mismatch of characters: Varya considers the merchant to be a practical businessman, unable to love. However, after analyzing the images of these heroes, one can draw the opposite conclusion - Varya herself is drier, limited to household chores, while Lopakhin is a man of a wide soul and subtle organization. An absolute misunderstanding of each other will lead to the collapse of love relationships.

Another, unspoken, but noticeable to the reader, feeling also lives in Yermolai's soul - his bright and quivering love for Ranevskaya. He is ready for anything at her request - even marry another. However, the landowner herself treats Lopakhin a little condescendingly, like a child whom she once washed. And when the merchant finally realizes the non-reciprocity of what he has kept inside for so long and cherished, a turning point occurs. Lopakhin buys the estate, the awareness of his own power and importance intoxicates him. Being a completely intelligent person, Ermolai understands that having bought a garden, he will not be able to take possession of Ranevskaya's feelings, and his dream will be lost completely and irrevocably. After the sale of the estate, the family disperses, Ranevskaya herself leaves for Paris, and he remains completely alone.

His father was a serf of Ranevskaya's grandfather and father; he traded in the village in a shop. Now Lopakhin got rich. His characterization is given by Chekhov, including in the first person. However, he speaks of himself with irony that he has remained a "man is a man". Talking about his childhood, the hero notes that his dad was a man who did not understand anything. He did not teach his son, but only beat drunk. Lopakhin admits that he is, in essence, "a fool and an idiot." did not learn anything, his handwriting is bad.

Lopakhin's business acumen

Of course, Lopakhin, whose characteristics we are interested in, has enterprise, business acumen and intelligence. The scope of its activities is much wider than that of the previous owners. He is energetic. Moreover, the main part of the state of this hero was earned by his own labor. The path to wealth was not easy for him. Individual remarks and remarks indicate that this merchant has some kind of big "business". He is completely absorbed in him. At the same time, Lopakhin easily part with his money, lending it to Simeonov-Pishchik and Ranevskaya, persistently offering Peta Trofimov. This hero is always short of time: he either goes on business trips, or returns. By his own admission, he gets up at five o'clock in the morning, works from morning to evening. Ermolai Alekseevich says that he cannot live without work. It is Lopakhin who looks at the clock more often than the others in the work. His characterization is supplemented by this essential detail already at the beginning of the work. His first line in the play: "What time is it?" This merchant constantly remembers the time.

Perception of Lopakhin by the actors of the play

The characters in the play perceive this hero differently. Their reviews of him are very contradictory. This is a "good, interesting person" for Ranevskaya, a "fist" and "boor" for Gaev, a "man of the greatest mind" for Simeonov-Pishchik. Petya Trofimov gives him a humorous characterization, saying that he is a predatory animal that eats everything that gets in the way, and this requires metabolism. "

The moment of Lopakhin's highest celebration

Lopakhin seeks to help Ranevskaya. He offers her to divide the garden into plots and lease them. This hero feels his immense strength, requiring release and application. In the end, Lopakhin buys the cherry orchard. His characterization is complemented in this important scene by some essential features. For him, the episode when he announces the purchase to the former owners of the garden is a moment of supreme celebration. Now Lopakhin is the owner of an estate in which his grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen. He starts "waving his arms" more and more - he is intoxicated by the consciousness of his own luck and strength. Compassion for Ranevskaya and triumph in him are opposed in this episode.

A dealer with an artist's soul

Chekhov said that Lopakhin's role in the work is central, that the whole play will fail if it fails. He wrote that Yermolai Alekseevich was a merchant, but a decent man in every sense; he must behave with decency, "no trick", intelligently. At the same time, Chekhov warned against a petty, simplified understanding of the image of Lopakhin. He is a successful businessman, but he has the soul of an artist. His reasoning about Russia sounds Lopakhin's words remind of Gogol's lyrical digressions in the play. It is to this hero that the most heartfelt words said about the cherry orchard belong to this hero: "an estate that is no more beautiful in the world."

Chekhov introduced features characteristic of some Russian entrepreneurs of the early 20th century into the image of Lopakhin, a merchant, but at the same time an artist at heart. We are talking about such names that have left their mark on the culture of Russia, such as Savva Morozov, Shchukin, Tretyakov, the publisher Sytin.

The final assessment that Petya Trofimov gives to his seemingly antagonist is very significant. The characterization of Lopakhin's image given by this character is ambiguous. As we said, he compared him to a beast of prey. But at the same time, Petya Trofimov tells Lopakhin that he still loves him: he, like an artist, has delicate thin fingers and a vulnerable soul.

The illusion of victory

By no means does Lopakhin want to ruin the cherry orchard. His characterization would be wrong if we thought so. He only proposes to reorganize it, dividing it into plots for summer cottages, to make it "democratic", generally available for a moderate fee. However, at the end of the play, he is shown not at all as a triumphant winner who achieved success Lopakhin ("The Cherry Orchard"). His characterization in the final is very contradictory. And the old owners of the garden are depicted not only as defeated. Lopakhin intuitively feels the relativity and illusion of his own victory. He says he wants this unhappy, awkward life to change sooner. These words are supported by his fate: Yermolai Alekseevich alone is able to appreciate the significance of the cherry orchard, but he ruins it with his own hands.

The characterization of Lopakhin from "The Cherry Orchard" is marked by the following: good intentions, personal good qualities of this hero for some reason diverge from reality. Neither those around him, nor he himself is able to understand the reasons for this.

Lopakhin is not given personal happiness either. Relationships with Varya are poured into incomprehensible to others his actions. He never dares to propose to this girl. Lopakhin, moreover, has a special feeling for Lyubov Andreevna. He is waiting for Ranevskaya's arrival with special hope and wonders if she will recognize him after five years of separation.

Relationship with Varya

In the last act, in the famous scene, when the failed explanation between Varya and Lopakhin is described, the heroes talk about the broken thermometer, about the weather - and not a word about what is most important to them at that moment. What's the matter, why didn't the explanation take place, this love didn't work out? Varya's marriage is discussed throughout the play as almost a settled matter, and nevertheless ...

What separates Lopakhin and Varya?

Apparently, the point is not that the groom is a businessman incapable of displaying love feelings. It is in this spirit that Varya explains to herself their relationship. She believes that he simply has no time for her, since Lopakhin has a lot to do. Probably, Varya, after all, is not a match for this hero: he is a broad nature, an entrepreneur, a person of great scope and at the same time an artist at heart. Varin's world is limited by economy, economy, keys on his belt. This girl, moreover, is a dowry who has no rights even to the now ruined estate. Lopakhin, for all the subtlety of his soul, lacks tact and humanity in order to bring clarity to their relationship.

The dialogue of the characters described in the second act does not clarify anything at the level of text in the relationship between Vary and Lopakhin. But it becomes clear at the level of subtext that these people are infinitely distant. The characterization of Lopakhin's hero allows us to judge that with Varya he would hardly have found his happiness. Ermolai Alekseevich had already decided that he would not be with this girl. Here Lopakhin plays the role of provincial Hamlet, who solves for himself the famous question: "To be or not to be?" And he decides: "Okhmelia, go to the monastery ...".

What separates Varya and Lopakhin? Perhaps the relationship of these heroes is largely determined by the motive of the fate of the cherry orchard, their attitude to it? Varya, like Firs, worries about the fate of the estate, the garden. And Lopakhin "sentenced" him to felling. Thus, the death of the cherry orchard comes between the heroes.

But, probably, there is one more reason, which is not formulated in the play (like many other things, sometimes the most important thing for Anton Pavlovich) and lies in the sphere of the subconscious. This is Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya.

Lopakhin and Ranevskaya

The characterization of Lopakhin from The Cherry Orchard would be incomplete without an analysis of the relationship between these two characters. The fact is that Ranevskaya, when Lopakhin was still a "boy" with a nose bloody from his father's fist, took him to the washstand and said: "He will heal before the wedding." Ranevskaya's sympathy, in contrast to his father's fist, was perceived by Lopakhin as a manifestation of femininity and tenderness. Lyubov Andreevna, in fact, did what her mother was supposed to do. Perhaps it was she who was involved in the fact that this merchant has such a "delicate, tender soul." But it is precisely this characteristic of Lopakhin in the play "The Cherry Orchard" that makes the image of the merchant of interest to us contradictory. Yermolai Alekseevich had a wonderful vision in his soul. So, in the first act, he tells Lyubov Andreevna that she once did so much for him, and that he loves her "more than his own." This is the characteristic of Ranevskaya and Lopakhin, their relationship.

Lopakhin's words in the first act are a "confession" of the first, long-standing love, filial gratitude, Yermolai Alekseevich's bright love for a beautiful vision, which does not require anything in return and does not commit to anything.

Farewell to the past

However, what was once experienced is irreversible. This "dear" for Lopakhin was not understood, heard. Probably, this moment became a turning point for him psychologically. He became for Lopakhin a calculation with the past, farewell to him. And a new life began for him. But now this hero has become more sober.

This is the characterization of Ermolai Lopakhin, the central character of the play, according to Chekhov.

Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich - one of the main characters in the play "The Cherry Orchard", a merchant, a descendant of serfs who worked for Ranevskaya's father and grandfather. Lopakhin's father was uneducated and rude, often beat him. Ranevskaya was kind to the boy, protected him. He says that he loves her more than his own, as she did a lot for him. About himself, he says that even though he broke away from the peasants, he never became educated. But Lopakhin has made himself a solid fortune and is now rich. He sincerely helps Ranevskaya and Gayev save the estate, but they value the cherry orchard so much that in the end they are left with nothing. His plan: to divide the garden into plots and lease it to summer residents in order to pay off the existing debt on the estate.

For Ranevskaya, this garden is like the personification of the homeland and the noble past. She says that this is the best garden in the province, you cannot cut it down. Lopakhin has no nostalgic feelings for the garden and acts from the point of view of practicality. In Ranevskaya he notices frivolity and indolence. He himself works every day from 5 am until late at night. Lopakhin is a predator by nature, which Petya Trofimov notices in him. This is a controversial character. On the one hand, he is hardworking, purposeful and intelligent, on the other, he is rude and callous. At the end of the play, it is he who buys out Ranevskaya's estate and does not hide his joy over this. After all, he is a “simple man”, “a son and grandson of slaves,” but now he is the owner of such an estate. The author himself classifies his hero as a "nonsense". So, for example, he wanted to meet Ranevskaya, but overslept the train, wanted to help her keep the estate, and bought it himself, promised to make an offer

One of the central characters in the play by A.P. Chekhov is an enterprising native of the lower classes. Outwardly, it seems that the actions do not develop around him, he stands aside from the problem of the work. In fact, everything is completely different. The image and characterization of Lopakhin in the play "The Cherry Orchard" is a brilliant example of the ingenious author's skillful mastery of words. With short strokes, with insignificant actions, he brings a new class of society out of the shadows.

Character's appearance and origins

Yermolai Alekseevich comes from a poor peasant family. The cruel father beat his son with a stick, did not provide the necessary. Yermolai ran barefoot in the snow, never studied. Serf grandfather and father were "in slavery" by Ranevskaya's parents. Ermolai likes to call himself a "man". By this word he means a whole class of serfs working for the owners. The peasants were not allowed into the house, even into those rooms where the owners were rarely present. From the words of his son, it becomes clear that his father is by profession, by occupation, a merchant in a shop. Perhaps the trading vein of the father grew into the entrepreneurial spirit of his son. At some moments it seems that Lopakhin is not proud, but boasts of his origin. But here, probably, there are mixed feelings. Yermolai Alekseevich is pleased with himself: he managed to acquire an estate that his ancestors could not even dream of.

The young merchant is neat in appearance. Strange, but the author does not speak about Lopakhin's age. One can only assume he was somewhere between 30 and 40. He was 15 years old when Ranevskaya was young and thin. What emphasizes the classic in the guise of the character:

• Gentle fingers;
• White vest;
• Yellow shoes.

Modest details, but easy to imagine.

Character of the hero

Lopakhin is shown from different angles. His character allows you to choose the most striking features:

• Hard work: gets up at 5 am and works until late at night.
• Mind: A man with no education is successful in accumulating wealth.
• Modesty: does not refuse peasant origin.
• Self-criticism: Yermolai knows his weaknesses, is not afraid to voice them to others: a fool, an idiot, bad handwriting.

Ermolai Lopakhin is very busy. He never misses any opportunity to increase his capital.

Lopakhin can get nasty, so Gaev calls him a fist. The man does not pay attention to such remarks addressed to him, perhaps Gaev is not the person whose words are worth listening to. Trofimov compares Ermolai with a predator. In the plot of the play, the predatory nature is manifested very clearly. Lopakhin "swallowed" the cherry orchard without noticing how much grief he brought to those around him. Moreover, it should be noted that some of them are close to him.

Beliefs and Authorities

Ermolai Alekseevich is not afraid of labor on the ground. Agriculture gives him a good income: sows poppy and gets 40 thousand. He admires nature, but surprisingly only the one that brings profit. Blooming poppy is a beautiful picture. Huge forests, immense fields, deep horizons make Lopakhin's brain work with tripled strength. He represents people as giants who must master all natural gifts. And the merchant does not admire the cherry orchard. He sees in it only areas for summer cottages. The gentle soul of a man is not upset at the thought of the death of the garden. The only great thing about the garden is that it is big. The size is commensurate with the possible income. Delicious aromatic berries are not interesting. They will be born 2 times a year, what to do with them. It is not profitable even to trade them.

The merchant's main conviction is the importance of money. The more he spins among them, the less he sees decent people. All seem to him dishonest, envious and evil. It cannot be said that money made Lopakhin a stingy person. HE lends, the classic does not specify the terms of the debt, but not everyone wants to use the merchant's generosity. Pyotr Trofimov prefers to remain poor, but not a debtor to the merchant. Ranevskaya easily asks for a loan.

Lopakhin and the owners of the cherry orchard

Ermolai knows Ranevskaya since childhood. He treats her with affection. From the hero's remarks, the viewer learns that the owner of the estate did a lot of good for the merchant. Love for a woman as for a loved one, sister, friend. Relationships are confidential. Ermolai wants Ranevskaya to believe him as before. An interesting phrase:

"Sleep well, there is a way out ...",

But when the decision with the garden was made, no proposals were received from Lopakhin to the former owners.

According to some literary scholars, Ermolai Alekseevich loves Ranevskaya more than his own. A bright feeling, a desire to help go through the whole plot, but others believe that for a merchant, love for Lyubov Andreevna ends with the fate of the cherry orchard. He himself chops off what he kept deep in his soul.

Lopakhin and Ranevskaya's adopted daughter

The girl adopted by the family sincerely loves Yermolai. She hopes that Lopakhin is a good soulful person. In a conversation with Lyubov Andreevna Yermolai does not refuse to marry: "I am not averse to ...". But for more than 2 years now, their imaginary connection has been heard only in the air. The merchant avoids Varya, is silent in her presence or jokes. In the last acts of the play, the mother asks Lopakhin to offer his hand and make an offer, to end this problem. There are many contradictions in the word set of Yermolai's monologue:

• I don't understand - to confess;
• There is still time - even now;
• Let's finish - basta;
• Without you, I won't make an offer.

The reader understands that Yermolai is not ready. He hopes that everything will resolve itself. Why tie the knot now when there is another joyful event? Acquisition of a cherry orchard opens up new opportunities for a merchant, and love will stop his life. The merchant has no time for feelings, especially since love has no real value.

The success of the entire play depends on the performer of the role of Lopakhin. This is the opinion of the author. The classic in the center of the action puts not the real owners of the garden, but the future owner. The play becomes the starting point of a new life for each hero. Lopakhin is the reason for the changes. His sober look, practicality, business acumen attract the audience.

(354 words) In the play The Cherry Orchard, the playwright allegorically depicted the process of the gradual ruin of the nobility and the emergence of a new bourgeois class in its place - merchants, who from Ostrovsky's sloppy and ignorant heroes turned into polite, beautifully dressed and modern Lopakhins. It would seem that this change is for the better: Ranevskaya and Gaev are not able to help the country in deed. But is it? How did Chekhov portray the present in the play "The Cherry Orchard"?

Lopakhin came out of the common people, but managed to become the master of life. “He’s just rich, there’s a lot of money, and if you think about it and figure it out, then a man is a man,” he presents himself. The hero feels in himself a lack of education and etiquette, admits this, but at the same time realizes that with courtesy and intelligence one can perish in a furious and gambling capitalist game.

The hero has mastered all the skills of a businessman. In particular, he maintains flawless business communication. Although he consoles Ranevskaya with a soft, kind voice, he still does not cease to be a capitalist. The benefit for Lopakhin is above all. He inspires the heroine to sell him a cherry orchard, although she feels how painful it is for her to say goodbye to her small homeland. At the same time, the dealer does not feel pity, that is, he does not belong to sensitive people. But he cannot be called cruel either: he does not reproach anyone for the serf past of his ancestors, does not impose feelings of guilt on anyone for their slavery. It seems that Lopakhin lives only by work, and the emotional side of life does not concern him.

Lopakhin's characterization should begin with such a quality as purposefulness. The cherry orchard is his old dream and he buys it. He measures everything in money, so all his goals revolve around them. Of course, the hero can be accused of narrow-mindedness, but capitalism is unthinkable without such people. It is they who create the market economy with its predatory laws and wild customs. Such an environment is a necessary condition for progress, so one character cannot be blamed for its sins. He is a part of this system, not its essence. If purposefulness is a positive property of businessmen, then goals themselves are a flaw of the system. This is confirmed by Lopakhin himself. With tears, he says: "We would rather change somehow our awkward, unhappy life."

Chekhov showed the present in the image of Lopakhin not in the best light, because he hoped that the time of the intelligentsia would come to replace the predatory laws of the financial jungle, which was democratically and creatively disposed, which would finally transform the world and establish justice.

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